Warriors head coach Mark Jackson discusses a call with a referree during a timeout in the first half. The Golden State Warriors played the Los Angeles Clippers at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, May 1, 2014, in Game 6 of the NBA first round playoffs. less

Warriors head coach Mark Jackson discusses a call with a referree during a timeout in the first half. The Golden State Warriors played the Los Angeles Clippers at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, ... more

The Warriors, who have a 100-game sellout streak, have rewarded fans with a 17-1 record at Oracle Arena.

The Warriors, who have a 100-game sellout streak, have rewarded fans with a 17-1 record at Oracle Arena.

Photo: Michael Macor / The Chronicle

This is no time to be speculating about coach Jackson

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A season was saved in Oakland on Thursday night. Game 6 against the Clippers was about as pretty as a mudslide, but there were no complaints within Oracle Arena's great sea of yellow. This would be an evening of glorious brutality.

It wasn't so much a test of athleticism as it was of survival, a night when Marreese Speights' contributions meant nearly as much as Stephen Curry's. And just when one wondered if the Warriors would even reach the finish line, here came Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala for the critical stretch-drive jump shots, forging a lead the Clippers' frantic comeback could not withstand.

For a game that may have ended the home season, it felt like a blessing, a guiding light into Saturday's Game 7 in Los Angeles. The Warriors are flying high once again, the very essence of compelling theater, and they have everything it takes to defeat "America's team" - that's what people are calling the Clippers, in the wake of Donald Sterling's banishment - at Staples Center.

What a shame, then, that one of the really ludicrous debates of our time - "Will Mark Jackson be fired?" - will be a part of that.

Doesn't this strike you as complete nonsense? Basic NBA truths are told on the floor and in the locker room. If the players love their coach, play with intensity and speak passionately in his defense - while winning 51 games in the regular season - that's pretty much the end of the argument.

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By all rights, the Warriors had no business winning Game 6. They played without the bullish Andrew Bogut and lost their other center, Jermaine O'Neal, to a knee injury late in the second quarter. They should have been powerless up front against that shot-blocking wonder, DeAndre Jordan, and All-Everything forward Blake Griffin. But there are certain things that can't be measured by matchups or statistics. These are things with which the Warriors are intimately familiar - and Jackson wields the baton.

You think it's easy maintaining success in this league? Consider the chaos festering among the rich and powerful: Indiana, torn apart by dissension; Oklahoma City, under fire for its coaching and an awkward superstar dynamic; Brooklyn, on the brink of disaster after a wild spending spree, and Houston, no closer to an identity than it was in November.

The Warriors haven't revealed a hint of discord between Jackson and his players. They have one of the best "character" groups in any sport, and Jackson has a way of connecting deeply with each of them.

Curry speaks of how Jackson "brought us from the gutters." Draymond Green calls him "a natural-born leader." O'Neal, who could talk all day on the subject, said, "You've got to let him finish baking that cake. I think it would be a disaster to bring in another coach and start all over again." And Thompson, one of the last players to speak up on Jackson's behalf, said before Thursday's shootaround, "I hope that's not the situation, because I love playing for Coach Jackson. He's a great mentor, a great friend. We're playing to win for him."

To understand how things could go sour, examine it from the owners' point of view. When it comes to social circles, Joe Lacob and Peter Guber aren't hanging around talking basketball with Hubie Brown and Mike Fratello. They operate in the corporate world, where the standard of excellence is a tight-running ship with no jokers in the mix - and no sign of regression.

For Jackson to have assembled a comically bad coaching staff - one dismissed for insubordination, another for secretly taping private conversations - is not the look of a corporate giant. For Jackson to be at odds with Jerry West, the iconic executive, speaks of lamentable insecurity. Instead of settling in Oakland, an arrangement club executives would greatly prefer, Jackson has maintained his primary residence in Southern California, where he is an ordained minister. Then there were the contract negotiations that broke down last summer after a more-than-respectable playoff run, leaving him without the long-term arrangement he sought.

All of it pales against the bottom line - Game 7, the highlight of your weekend - and really, if management feels that nervous, why would Jackson even want to stay? Some very intriguing coaching jobs will be open, starting with the Knicks and Lakers, and Jackson would certainly look attractive to an organization looking for a spiritual and cultural uplift.

I have a feeling Jackson is going to be just fine, wherever he is. He'll have learned a few things, emerging a better man. This is no time for his Oakland tenure to end.

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